Increasing Access to Online, On-Demand, Competency-Based Nonprofit Management and Leadership Education

Principal Investigator:

Yvonne Harrison, University at Albany

The University at Albany’s Certificate of Nonprofit Management and Leadership (CNML) jointly sponsored by Rockefeller College’s Department of Public Administration and Policy and the School of Social Welfare, is dedicated to increasing access to leadership education that meets the needs of the nonprofit sector. Designed for working professionals and students preparing for careers in the nonprofit sector, the CMNL offers five courses jointly delivered between the two schools. In 2014, one of the five courses, The Governance of Nonprofit Organizations, was transformed into a semester-based massive open online course (MOOC) with IITG funding. In January 2015, the course launched on Coursera’s online teaching and learning platform enrolling over 12,000 learners from 179 countries. 2015 IITG funding is requested to meet the demand for nonprofit leadership and management education by:

  1. Transforming the Governance of Nonprofit Organizations MOOC into an“on demand” Coursera course- working professionals and students in the SUNY system can take for academic credit through a course waiver (SUNY students) and prior learning assessment (Public) methodology.
  2. Creating new (simulations for end-of module assessments of learning) and flipping existing MOOC content, including the online team-based learning and the externally hosted academic service learning “capstone” activities for use within Coursera’s on-demand platform.
  3. Conducting longitudinal comparative research on the impact of the MOOC on student success and nonprofit governance and organizational effectiveness (through the academic service learning project).

Co-PI’s and Key Partners:

Vic Murray, Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria
Alena Rodick, Instructional Designer, School of Graduate Studies, Empire State College

Reports and Resources: